{"id":875317,"date":"2026-10-08T16:20:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T16:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/875317\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T16:20:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T16:20:10","slug":"napheesa-collier-faces-a-big-decision-return-to-the-lynx-or-become-a-wnba-free-agent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/875317\/","title":{"rendered":"Napheesa Collier faces a big decision: Return to the Lynx or become a WNBA free agent"},"content":{"rendered":"

Napheesa Collier had a particularly late start to her eighth season with the Minnesota Lynx, following surgery on both ankles<\/a> that delayed her 2026 debut until just before the All-Star break.<\/p>\n

After an abruptly disappointing finish<\/a> for the Lynx in the WNBA playoffs, the smooth-shooting and defensively tough forward the team has tried to build a title contender around is uncertain to return.<\/p>\n

Collier will be one of the most prominent players in the league to enter free agency before the 2027 season, along with Indiana Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell and Las Vegas Aces guard Jackie Young. Collier signed a one-year contract<\/a> with Minnesota following the new collective bargaining agreement that brought a surge of higher salaries to the sport’s biggest stars.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever she decides, we’re both going to be OK,\u201d head coach and president of basketball operations Cheryl Reeve said after the Lynx were swept in two games by the New York Liberty in the first round of the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Collier was drafted with the sixth overall pick in 2019 out of Connecticut, two years after the Lynx won their last of four WNBA championships.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat \u2018Phee\u2019 has given this franchise, we\u2019re super proud of. And we\u2019re super proud of the work we\u2019ve poured into her,\u201d Reeve said. \u201cIf she lands on being here, great. And if there\u2019s something better for her, that\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collier, for her part, was not ready to dive into such a major decision during her exit interview session with reporters so soon after the last game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can tell you that I love it here. I love the organization. I love my team and everything like that, but I just haven\u2019t had the time to give that any thought,\u201d said Collier, who was limited to 16 games during the regular season and watched WNBA Rookie of the Year Olivia Miles carry the club in her absence.<\/p>\n

The five-time All-Star and 2024 Defensive Player of the Year award winner had plenty of adjustments to make once she rejoined the lineup, with a true point guard in Miles and veteran Courtney Williams moving to the shooting guard spot. After the Lynx lost Game 1 to the Liberty, Reeve said she thought Collier needed to be more assertive on offense, one of many shortcomings for them in the series.<\/p>\n

Collier is eager for a full offseason to work on her game without the rehabilitation process dominating her time. The 30-year-old expressed confidence that the Lynx with their current core are good enough to win a title, despite a second straight early exit from the playoffs as the No. 1 seed. But there’s a possibility they’ll take their next swing without her.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course I don\u2019t want that to be my last game with \u2018Phee,\u2019 and she knows that, but I also want her to figure out what this next chapter looks like for her and make the best decision for her,\u201d teammate Kayla McBride said. \u201cI want that to be here of course, but I just want her to choose her.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Napheesa Collier had a particularly late start to her eighth season with the Minnesota Lynx, following surgery on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":875318,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[5949,6403,1318,1077,3250,99,434,13017],"class_list":["post-875317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-cheryl-reeve","tag-free-agency","tag-free-agent","tag-minnesota-lynx","tag-napheesa-collier","tag-sports","tag-wnba","tag-wnba-basketball"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=875317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/875318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=875317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=875317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=875317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}